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Play Classic PC Graphic Adventures

ScummVM
is a cross-platform set of multiplatform game interpreters. The
authors describe it as “a `virtual
machine’ for several classic graphical
point-and-click adventure games.”
It’s named after the Script Creation Utility for
Maniac Mansion (SCUMM) engine used in classic LucasArts adventure
games, including Maniac Mansion, Sam and Max Hit the Road,
and Full
Throttle, but it’s diversified somewhat; it now
handles Revolution games such as the Broken Sword series.

Running ScummVM

ScummVM
is particularly clever because it interprets the
original Scumm source files, whatever the platform. In other words,
it doesn’t try to emulate the original hardware
platform, but like the Inform text adventures ( [Hack #85] ), it takes the information in
the source files and interprets it independently of the platform.
Obviously, each individual hardware platform’s
version of ScummVM then has the information necessary to turn that
information into pictures and sounds.

Let’s consider the Windows version of
ScummVM.
Download it from http://www.scummvm.org/downloads.php, install
it, and then run ScummVM.exe.
You’ll see a straightforward windowed menu system to
which you can add games by navigating to the directory the datafiles
are in (even if they’re on a CD).
It’s really as simple as that, although there are a
host of command-line and in-game options.

To play a game, you need the original media. Sources for this vary:
perhaps you have floppy disks stashed away in your closet from the
DOS versions of some of these games, or perhaps you can hunt around
online and pick up the CD versions on eBay or other online auction
shops. We’ll discuss ways to pick up multiple games
a little later.

You won’t need every file from the original media to
play the game. The
ScummVM site has a
handy page that summarizes the necessary data for each working game
(http://www.scummvm.org/documentation.php?view=datafiles).
It may be wise to copy the files to your hard drive to prevent wear
and tear on the floppies.

Tip

If you can’t find originals, you can test ScummVM
with demos that various collectors have put online for your
downloading pleasure. See http://www.scummvm.org/demos.php.

Best of all, the wonderful folks at Revolution Software have made their
classic graphic adventure, Beneath A Steel Sky, available from the
same downloads page (http://www.scummvm.org/downloads.php).
Although it’s not for the Scumm engine, this is a
majestic, adult, brooding adventure title worth your while. Kudos to
Revolution for allowing free redistribution.

What if you just want to run ScummVM despite whatever platform you
have installed?

That’s the realm of the Scumm LiveCD (http://www.scummlinux.org/). As with some of
the other Linux self-boot CD distributions (KnoppixMame, for example;
see [Hack #15] ), it runs
independently of the operating system. It’s
distributed as an ISO that allows you to copy games into the
distribution and burn it onto a CD. There’s also a
special version with USB memory stick support. Copy the games you
want across, run the special generator.exe (or its
Linux equivalent), change your BIOS to boot from the USB stick, and
Bob’s your uncle.

Rescumming Mac OS Originals

So far, we’ve assumed you’re trying
to use the files from the Windows or DOS version of the original
LucasArts games. You can also use files from the Mac OS originals,
but there’s an additional complication: you need to
“rescumm” them to extract the
relevant datafiles. In the Mac versions, the entire game is packed
into a single file, so the interpreter can’t access
individual files.

There’s an excellent FAQ on how to fix this problem
on PS2Cheats
(http://www.ps2cheats.com/randomstuff/scumm/),
but it’s really as simple as downloading the
ScummVM
toolset (http://scummvm.sourceforge.net/downloads.php),
finding the datafile on your LucasArts game CD, copying it to your
hard drive, opening the Terminal window, and then running the
rescumm utility on the file.
It’ll magically extract all the datafiles you need
to add that game to your ScummVM install. This is particularly
felicitous because there are major compatibility problems with
classic LucasArts titles and Mac OS X.

Let’s reiterate, since this is a little confusing.
You can use your Windows datafiles from your
Windows CD version of the game to play LucasArts
Scumm-totin’ games on your Mac. If
you’re trying to use an original Mac version of one
of the games on ScummVM, you’d better rescumm it.
Got it?

Recommended ScummVM-Compatible Games

Recommending ScummVM games to play is easy. LucasArts
created some of the most delightful adventures using the Scumm
engine. Here are some particular favorites you should consider.

Sam & Max Hit The Road

What is there to say about Sam and Max? It’s one of
the best graphic adventures of all time. Steve
Purcell’s crime-solving bear and rabbit team have
the most absurd, wry, odd, and delightful adventures of any
anthropomorphic crimebusters, ever. “You know, Max,
I can’t help but think that we may have foolishly
tampered with the fragile inner mechanisms of this little spaceship
we call Earth.”

The Secret Of Monkey Island

“Guybrush. Guybrush Threepwood.”
The original Monkey Island game has classic puzzles, amazing dialog,
and a tremendous sense of fun, in addition to its stand-out sense of
humor. There’s no need for talking skulls to liven
up this original piratical jaunt. Apparently, you can always press
Ctrl-w to win the game on many versions of it; in that case,
there’s no need even to play!

Loom

Brian Moriarty’s haunting, otherworldly experience
was underappreciated at the time, featuring musical notes that
created spells. Don’t miss the CD-ROM version. If
you’re really an insane Loom freak, the
MixNMojo
page (http://www.mixnmojo.com/php/site/gamedb.php?gameid=14)
points out that the 256-color Japanese FM Towns version is a direct
conversion of the 16-color PC version, including all the cool
cut-scenes left out of the PC CD-ROM version for space reasons.
It’s not cheap or easy to find, mind you, though
it’s very much worth it.

Flight of The Amazon Queen

Okay, this isn’t a Scumm game, but it is a stylish
and funny classic graphic adventure that richly deserves banding with
the LucasArts titles for ScummVM compatibility. It’s
also freely downloadable, courtesy of John Passfield and Steven
Stamatiadis, the original creators. Some reviews describe it as
Monkey Island
meets Indiana
Jones.

Tip

When you analyze the titles supported by
ScummVM, notice some odd non-LucasArts
titles that apparently use the Scumm engine. These
children’s adventure games, developed by
Humongous Entertainment, came
about because Ron Gilbert, the Monkey Island cocreator and one
of the original programmers of Scumm, founded Humongous and actually
went to the trouble of licensing his engine back from LucasArts!
Although heavily modified, you can at least load titles such as
Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, in ScummVM.
That’s the kind of thing that can win you a geek bar
bet.

If you can find it, the
LucasArts Classic Adventure
compilation (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,2477/)
from way back in 1992 is the best way to find multiple games at once.
It includes Zak McKracken and the
Alien Mindbenders,
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,
Loom,
and The Secret of Monkey Island.
That’s some seriously good retro mojo.

The new Scumm
engine (but not ScummVM!) using
LucasArts Entertainment Pack is also
good; it includes Sam & Max Hit the Road,
Full Throttle,
The
Dig, and Grim
Fandango. Aaron Giles’s page
(http://www.aarongiles.com/scumm/) has more
information on this enhanced Windows engine. As of press time,
it’s available only in the United Kingdom.

Tip

Although you can’t run it in interpreted form in
ScummVM because it’s stuck on a cartridge, highly
modified, and unreleased, Video Fenky has a web site that exposes the
unedited Nintendo Entertainment System version of Maniac Mansion
(http://www.video-fenky.com/features/rg/maniac.shtml).
Apparently, the Big N wasn’t too happy with dialog
such as Dr. Fred telling Sandy about “getting your
pretty brains sucked out,” as well as Nurse
Edna’s rather suggestive speeches. Fortunately, what
was a little much for poor sheltered NES users ended up being fine
for those unmoderated PC users.

ScummVM as a Platform

How about creating brand new games for
ScummVM? Isn’t that
possible? Possibly, but the Scumm construction tools have never seen
the light of day. It’s clear the engine was
extensively hacked to construct the games, so construction sets such
as AGS ( [Hack #79] ) do the job a
lot better. As the
ScummVM
FAQ says:

While it is theoretically possible to write a new game that uses
ScummVM it is not advisable. ScummVM has many hacks to support older
games and no tools geared towards creating content usable by ScummVM.

Maybe we’re just lucky that some of the all-time
classic graphic adventures have already been created using Scumm.
It’d almost be a shame to create more and ruin the
Scumm reputation.

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